A family friend came to visit who had lost 40 lbs since December, and she told me she's "paying attention" to calories but not counting. Her system is looking at the nutrition label of something and looking at the % of daily vitamins that's includes in something, and then looking at the carb grams. If the vitamins # is less she can eat it, if the vitamins # is higher she can. The idea is getting away from empty calories and choosing more filling foods.

I'd never heard of this but it has been a huge help to her success. Maybe theres a name for this method or a sub-forum already, lol!

I don't even get it. There isn't just one DV%. There's a percent for each of, well, usually at least 4 vitamins/minerals, and often 10 or more.

She uses the DV% on the label and adds them all up to get the final count, like add the % of all the vitamins on the label. I had to have her show me on a can to understand it, lol.

To be perfectly honest, I think it's just weird. Count carbs if you want to. Definitely make sure you're getting a variety of plenty of veggies and fruits. But her method, I think, doesn't ensure anything really. Basic nutrition guidelines seem easier.

Yeah, I don't see the rationale behind it. Many vitamins aren't even on the nutritional label, so many foods with high nutrtion would be avoided, just because the food happens to be high in the vitamins that aren't required to be posted on nutrition labels. Also, many of the healthiest foods don't come with any nutrition label (fresh fruits and vegetables and most fresh meat and poultry).